Very tense atmosphere at Europe 1. The strike continues this Tuesday for a fifth consecutive day against the backdrop of a merger with CNews, the Canal + group’s news channel, whose editorial line acts as a foil for the strikers. At the end of a general meeting in the morning, nearly a hundred employees voted to continue the movement until Wednesday 1 p.m. (90 favorable votes out of 95), said employees present at the meeting.
But the tone has gone up a notch with the validation of a “motion of no confidence against Donat Vidal Revel”, director of information, by more than 90% of voters. It sanctions the “lie about the editorial project” on the fact that Louis de Raguenel – defector of the right-wing magazine Current values whose arrival at the start of the 2020 academic year had sparked an uproar – “would not become a political department head” and that “there would be no joint distribution with CNews”, details a striker.
The establishment of a conscience clause
The movement, initiated Friday to protest against the dismissal of a journalist, also wants the establishment of a conscience clause, a device allowing journalists to leave their title with compensation in the event of a change of editorial line. Concern has grown crescendo since the announcement in mid-May of strengthening ties with CNews, with which the radio shares the same main shareholder, billionaire Vincent Bolloré, who controls Vivendi and its subsidiary Canal +.
By mixing its editorial line with that of CNews which testifies to “a political activism strongly anchored to the right, even sometimes to the extreme right”, Europe 1 “will lose (…) its capital of credibility with the listeners”, estimated the society of editors of Europe 1 and the intersyndicale in a column published last week.
The new grid unveiled in the press
“I don’t understand their concern. Their agitation is curious and unfair, ”replied Arnaud Lagardère, boss of the eponymous group, owner of the radio station, in an interview with Figaro published Monday.
“To say that Europe 1 comes under the thumb of Vivendi is a fantasy bordering on conspiracy. Vincent Bolloré is an asset, not a threat, ”said the manager, who at the end of the month, with the legal transformation of his group, will lose his absolute power in favor of his first shareholder, Vincent Bolloré. The strikers discovered Monday through the press the first changes to the schedule of programs.
Arnaud Lagardère has thus announced the arrival in the fall of several CNews figures on the station such as Laurence Ferrari, at the controls of a three-hour program which will be partially broadcast on the news channel. Or that of Dimitri Pavlenko, Eric Zemmour’s teammate in the show Facing the info, to control the morning equivalent of 8 p.m. on the radio.